Sonic Youth's "Bad Moon Rising" - The Terrifying Truths of America

Sonic Youth's 1985 album, "Bad Moon Rising"

In keeping with the "spooky" theme, I had meant to get this post up before Halloween, but a wedding, among other important life things, took precedence. But! I think this album is still very relevant to talk about, as it is not just a spooky album for its Halloween themes, but for the darker, true history of America that its lyrics discuss. And after the presidential election just occurred, I think that makes it plenty relevant! 

Noise rock pioneers Sonic Youth released their second album, Bad Moon Rising, in March of 1985. It combines elements of noise rock, no wave, and experimental rock. For those unfamiliar with the term "no wave", it was essentially a short-lived avant-garde musical subgenre and scene in New York in the late 70's to early 80's, that was distinctly anti-mainstream pop and rock, and anti-new wave. The lyrical themes were usually brash, in your face, and anti-establishment like punk, but more nihilistic or misanthropic, and paired with atonal, non-standard guitar work. And Bad Moon Rising certainly follows these patterns. 

It is my favorite Sonic Youth album, and while I love the rest of their catalogue- there is nothing else like this one. It is a sweet, half-way point between their earlier, almost completely devoid of melody, screeching works, and before their more accessible, indie rock releases. I definitely do consider it a Fall / Halloween album, partially because of the flaming pumpkin head album cover, and the bonus track named after the holiday. But I also find it to be a "Halloween album", because of the overall sound, vibe, and dark, unsettling (and often true) stories in the lyrics. 

Sonic Youth, posing for a photo in 1985.

The album opens with a one minute "Intro", which is a melancholic arpeggio of multiple guitars, and no lyrics. It smoothly slides into the second track, "Brave Men Run (In My Family)", which is a reference to and a play on Edward Ruscha's painting of the same name. The lyrics are repetitive, and simple yet cryptic, with a multitude of possible meanings. For me, I consider it to be talking about early Europeans first arriving in America, as this is a theme that will come up later on the album, and the painting it references is of a sailing ship on the sea. It sets the tone for the remainder of the album, which continues to delve deeper into this country's dark past. Listen to it for yourself, below.

"Society is a Hole" talks about singer Thurston Moore's distain for the modern world, and how much of the country still lives in fear, despite how advanced the world has become. It is of course, still obscure, but "white powers sneakers on the beautiful beat of black feet", definitely has hints of racism in it for me, and it would make sense considering he is talking about what is wrong with society. It drones on in combination with a chanting of the title, sounding like a tired sort of protest- like wanting to fix the world, but not knowing where to start, other than complaining about it. 

Coming back to the discussion of early European settlers arrival in America, and the effects their arrival had on the land and its people, "Ghost Bitch" is a chilling take on Europeans interactions with Native Americans, from the perspective of an indigenous woman. The lyrics flow like abstract poetry, in fragments or run-on sentences, which gives it a stream of consciousness style, like these are exactly the thoughts going through this woman's mind. Singer Kim Gordon, via the concept of this Native American woman, refers to the Europeans as "savage", which is a twist on how the European settlers called the Natives savage, when it was really them who carried out genocide against the Native Americans. This is my interpretation, but it seems that towards the end of the song, the Native woman is raped by the "founding fathers", and impregnated; it being a metaphor for Europeans raping the land and its people, and how "manifesting" their destiny was more important than preserving and respecting the people and culture who originally resided there ("Our founding fathers laid right down, and Indian ghost from long ago, they gave birth to my bastard kin, America it is called..."). It is incredibly dark, and scary, but it is part of the true history that occurred in this country. If  you feel comfortable hearing it, I invite you to hear its haunting power, here (embedded link because it won't let me embed video).

Kim Gordon brandishing a gun, on the set of the "Death Valley '69" music video.

I'll skip ahead to the last track on the album (before the CD-only bonus tracks), "Death Valley '69". It is a collaboration with no wave musician and poet, Lydia Lunch, and a duet between her and Moore. The song is allegedly supposed to be about infamous cult leader and criminal, Charles Manson. It ties in well with the "dark side of America" theme Sonic Youth has been uncovering already on this album, and ends it on a wild, screeching note- literally. Lunch adds her signature voice, with an extra whiny, childlike flair to the track, making it somehow even more disturbing. Fans speculate that the lyrics are from the perspective of Manson and one of his followers ("Sadie", her part voiced by Lunch), and detail the insanity within the man's mind, and the pair actively murdering someone. To add yet another level of twisted to the concept, the music video shows the band members covered in blood and in various states of dismemberment. It won't let me embed it here (probably for the best), but if you can stomach it, I'd say it's certainly worth watching once (*TW: gore, violence*) by clicking here. The audio only, without the disturbing video, is below for your listening pleasure. 

Bad Moon Rising is truly a wild ride from start to finish. It is Sonic Youth at their most twisted and sinister, but at the same time, it is necessary historical and political commentary that we should be reminded of. I didn't even mention the bonus tracks here, as they're not officially part of the album, but you should also check out "Flower" for a short and sweet, feminist anthem, and "Satan is Boring" if you want to scare the shit out of yourself. And I already spoke about the last one, "Halloween" on my previous post about my Halloween playlist, if you want to read about it there. Bad Moon Rising is scary because it is true. It is our history, whether we like it or not, and Sonic Youth will make sure we remember it, by delivering it in an artistic, spooky, noise rock package. Give the record a listen for yourself, if that concept appeals to you, and if you like what you've heard about it so far. I hope you all had a spook-tacular Halloween and overall October, and thank you as always for reading!